Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is the overwhelming favourite for the Giro d’Italia, which gets underway in Turin on May 4, but he isn’t without rivals at the race.
The Slovenian is, by some distance, the headline act at this Giro, with 2023 champion Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) opting not to defend his title, while Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) also decided against returning to settle some unfinished business with the corsa rosa.
Pogačar is expected to dominate from start to finish and become the first rider since Gianni Bugno in 1990 to lead the Giro from the first stage right the way through to the finale. But a long list of rivals with both experience and young talent will be queuing up to try and deny him the maglia rosa.
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), second a year ago, has repeatedly shown his aptitude in three-week racing, while another veteran, Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich-PostNL), showcased his form at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Along with that experienced pair, there is also a group of fresh faces trying to push their way into the reckoning at the first men's Grand Tour of the season, including Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious).
Cyclingnews takes a closer look at the riders who look set to play a leading role at the 2024 Giro d'Italia as it winds its way from Turin to Rome.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates)
Tadej Pogačar has avoided miscues and illness this season and is set to be in top form for his quest of winning the overall at his first Giro d’Italia, an entree before the Tour de France.
Across the five Grand Tours at which he has competed so far, Pogačar has never finished outside the podium, with two Tour de France victories (2020, 2021), two second-place finishes at the Tour and third on his debut at the 2019 Vuelta a España.
There are 3,400 kilometres with six mountain top finishes and two time trials across the 21 days of racing at this year's Giro, all suited to the versatile Slovenian superstar's powers.
There’s never any guarantee that it will be a parade, with the chaos of the Giro able to unravel the best-laid plans. Despite racing only 10 days in 2024, albeit winning on six of those days, Pogačar said in his pre-race press conference that less racing has perhaps boosted his performance and made him "more eager for success".
“I am better this year, I feel more comfortable on the bike, I feel I’m enjoying it even more than before,” Pogačar told reporters on Thursday.
“It’s all getting close and you just want to get started, you’re just counting down the days, the tension is growing and the nerves are coming. But it’s all in a good sense - everybody wants to race, and so do I."
Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers)
Geraint Thomas' runner-up performance in last year's Giro d'Italia will make him an obvious contender for another podium finish in this edition. He's taken a similar approach to the first Grand Tour of the season, having competed across three shorter stage races, this year swapping the Tour Down Under for a start at the Volta ao Algarve and again racing at the Volta a Catalunya and Tour of the Alps.
Last year Thomas lost the Giro d'Italia lead in the final Monte Lussari time trial against Primož Roglič, where he finished second, but with a new year comes a new route and opportunity.
He has stood on the podium in four Grand Tours, winning the Tour de France in 2018, coming second in 2019 and third in 2022, before his second place at the Giro. He is consistently strong in the mountains and has recently spent time at Monte Grappa for a recon of stage 20.
Thomas addressed the Slovenian elephant in the room at his pre-Giro press conference but said that Pogačar's status as the heavy favourite only took the pressure off and that he was excited about the challenge.
"Of course, you don't think the first is gone - if anything, it takes pressure off because everyone expects him [Pogačar] to win. They don't expect any of us to do anything," Thomas said in Turin.
"Obviously, it's a massive task because he's a phenomenal bike rider - I've said recently probably one of the greatest ever - but we're relishing the challenge. They've got a strong team, but so do we and there are plenty of other good bike riders here as well."
Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe)
Dani Martínez will lead Bora-Hansgrohe at this year’s Giro d’Italia, with his new teammate Roglič opting to not defend the title he won with Jumbo-Visma as he will instead pursue his first Tour win, which would give him a career Grand Tour sweep. At 27, Martínez looks to set a standard with his new team, having raced the last six seasons with EF Education and Ineos Grenadiers.
Of the eight Grand Tours in which he has competed, he has ridden the Giro twice, last finishing fifth on GC in 2021 with Ineos. All six of his stage top 10s came on courses with climbing to the finish, including Monte Zoncolan at the Giro in 2021. He put in a solid top 15 finish in that year’s closing time trial to jump past João Almeida and make the overall top five.
The Colombian climber will put his talents on full display at the Giro with its six mountain top finishes, including the Passo Brocon on stage 17 and Sappada on stage 19.
This year he won two stages and the mountains classification at the Volta ao Algarve, and was the only rider to finish within a minute of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep in the overall, securing second place. He raced all but the final day of Tirreno-Adriatico due to a knee issue, but is fully rested for his return to the Giro.
Romain Bardet (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)
Romain Bardet will head into this Giro d'Italia bouyed from a recent second place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. While the one-day Monument and the Grand Tour are vastly different, there is almost no substitute for a boost of morale and confidence at the beginning of a three-week-long race as demanding as the Giro.
The Frenchman is one of the peloton's strongest climbers and has over a decade of experience in Grand Tour racing. He understands how to carry his form across three weeks and will be well-suited to the six mountain-top finishes.
Of the 15 Grand Tours that Bardet has raced, he has finished in the top 10 on seven occasions, twice on the podium at the Tour de France. His highest place in the Giro d'Italia was seventh in the 2021 edition, where he finished second at Cortina d'Ampezzo and, although he ultimately abandoned in 2022 before leaving he finished second at Blockhaus.
Bardet says he hasn't felt this strong in years, and while his rivals also look stronger than ever, he believes he can compete for a podium spot.
Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike)
The much-heralded U23 rider, Cian Uijtdebroeks, makes his Giro debut wearing the yellow-and-black colours of Visma-Lease a Bike. Given his teammate Wout van Aert was forced to skip a planned Giro debut, Uijtdebroeks will be one of Visma's focal points alongside sprinter Olav Kooij.
Last year delivered the first Grand Tour start of his career, with the then Bora-Hansgrohe rider landing eighth overall at the Vuelta a España with four stage top 10s.
This season, just days after his 21st birthday, Uijtdebroeks finished fifth at O Gran Camiño while helping Jonas Vingegaard to the overall title and then took seventh at Tirreno-Adriatico. He suffered from a stomach ailment at Volta a Catalunya and could not continue on the final day to Barcelona, where he was riding in the top 20.
That means it has been more than a month since we have seen Uijtdebroeks race so there is much to be revealed as he tackles his first Grand Tour with Visma-Lease a Bike.
A sign that he may not be in top form, however, was that Visma's pre-race statements suggested stage wins with Kooij and Laporte were the focus and that Uijtdebroek's GC bid was more of a learning curve that he will try to make the most out of.
“For sure, I’ll try to get the highest result possible, and we’ll see what it is in the end,” Uijtdebroeks told reporters in Turin on Thursday. “The white jersey would be a dream, but we’ll start easy and keep the top 10 as an ambition.”
"Our main objective is to win stages. We want to achieve that mainly in the flat sprints with Olav [Kooij]," said DS Marc Reef.
"Cian [Uijtdebroeks] can take his chance on the GC. The main thing is to learn. We will see what he can do in the coming weeks. We are confident."
Ben O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale)
Ben O'Connor has shifted his focus away from the Tour de France and onto the Giro d'Italia this year.
Racing for one of the top-performing teams in the peloton in 2024, French side Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale since 2021, the Australian has understandably had clear targets for the team's home Grand Tour during the previous three seasons, and he has had success with a fourth overall and a stage win into Tignes.
O'Connor hasn't raced at the Giro since 2020, where he took his first-ever Grand Tour victory atop Madonna di Campiglio while riding for NTT. In 2024, though, the team granted his request to focus on the Italian Grand Tour, an agreement he was grateful for because he says a schedule refresh could be just what he needs to perform at his best.
The Australian believes this year's route will suit him better than any previous edition, with mountain finishes at Prati di Tivo, Cusano Mutri Livigno, Monte Pana, Passo Brocon and Sappada, along with a time trial that finishes in Perugia.
A strong start to the season puts O'Connor in position as a main podium contender with second overall at the UAE Tour, fifth at Tirreno-Adriatico and second at Tour of the Alps. Achieving that maiden top-three finish at a Grand Tour would be a career-best for O'Connor which his teammates know would mean the world.
“Oh, I think it'd be huge if Ben was on the podium,” said roommate for the Giro Larry Warbasse to Cyclingnews.
"For any rider, that's a career crowning achievement, and I think he's capable. So if we could get him up there, that would be amazing.”
Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech)
Michael Woods will lead Israel-Premier Tech in their bid for a top GC place at this Giro d'Italia. Woods is familiar with the nation's top race, having made the jump to European racing with Amore & Vita a decade ago.
Since then, his pathway into the WorldTour has taken him to ten Grand Tours with a total of seven podiums on individual stages in all three, including two stage wins at the Vuelta a España and another at the Tour de France.
His main focus has been on the French and Spanish Grand Tours and Woods hasn't competed at the Giro since 2018, where he finished runner-up in the stage to Caltagirone.
Finishing on the overall podium might be a big ask for the Canadian, but this year's edition of the Giro d'Italia is poised to be a wide-open race with only one outright favourite – Tadej Pogačar. Given the unpredictable nature of the Giro d'Italia, where anything can happen, it would not be out of the realm of possibility to see a few new faces on the podium this year. Perhaps Woods could be one of them.
Antonio Tiberi and Damiano Caruso (Bahrain Victorious)
Italy is looking for a luminary to shine across the 21-day contest and with Bahrain Victorious they have two – 22-year-old Antonio Tiberi and 36-year-old Damiano Caruso.
Tiberi just finished third overall at the Tour of the Alps with a sweep of top 10s across the five days of racing. The youngster also impressed at Volta a Catalunya with three top 10s to finish eighth overall. While he began the race in support of Wout Poels, he would take over the reins on stage 3 with a mountaintop finish at Port Aine in the Pyrenees, Tiberi finishing third behind stage winner Pogačar.
Bahrain Victorious will have options with veterans Poels and Italian Caruso, who finished fourth overall at last year’s Giro. Caruso is racing at the Tour de Romandie for a fourth consecutive season this week. It is a race where he has finished in the top 10 three times, last year taking third overall, and should help him hit the Giro ready to start fighting for a top spot from the very early stages.
Eddie Dunbar (Jayco AlUla)
In just two appearances at the Giro d’Italia, Eddie Dunbar has demonstrated an ability to flourish as a GC rider and he looks ready to burst onto the podium. Last year the Irishman finished seventh overall, building momentum as the weeks progressed with five top 10s, all mountain finishes including a fourth place atop Monte Bondone in the third week.
In his first Giro in 2019, Dunbar rode in support of ninth-placed Pavel Sivakov at Ineos, and in the process finished 22nd overall himself thanks to a podium on a hilly stage 12.
The Irishman’s 2024 season didn’t really reach full steam until April at Itzulia Basque Country, as he fractured his hand on a stage 1 crash at the UAE Tour and had to take a month off. But then again, in 2023 before his breakout 21 days at the Giro he also broke his hand in his early-season crash, that time at Volta a Valenciana.
The 27-year-old will also have Australian road race and time trial champion Luke Plapp as a co-leader of the squad. The 23-year-old rider finished sixth overall at Paris-Nice, showing he has good form, and on top of that he is a better time trialist than Dunbar so Jayco AlUla have options.
Both Dunbar and Plapp rode together at the Tour de Romandie in a final push toward the Giro. Neither was able to finish the race but the beauty of a three-week Tour allows riders to grow into it as the days go on, so they shouldn't fret.
“It’s hard to go into a three-week race and say what you want to get out of it because so much can change day on day,” Dunbar told Cyclingnews ahead of the Giro.
“I just want to get through the three weeks as best as possible and hopefully end up in a better position than last year. That would be a good achievement, I think.”
Get unlimited access to all of our coverage of the Giro d'Italia - including journalists reporting on the ground, breaking news and analysis from every stage of the race as it happens and more. Find out more.
